I-FEED Puts Dent in World Hunger

Posted by Bob Buck on Nov 08, 2017

What is I-FEED?

I-FEED is an annual Rotary event that focuses on supplying food locally and to other parts of a hungry world. This year's event was November 4th at Logan High School in La Crosse Wisconsin. Hundreds of people showed up to participate. There were 36 teams of 12 people each that spent their Saturday packing basic meals that are easy to heat and eat. The Holmen Area Rotary Club sponsored three teams, two Holmen High School Interact teams and one adult club team. Each team mans a table and has to measure and fill ingrediants in each bag, heat seal it and create the master carton of 36 meals. The action is fast and furious, with people cheering the teams on. Money collected goes to purchase the basic meal ingredients. The meal consists of a combination of rice, soy, dried vegetables and a vitamin enriched protein powder. Each meal bag can feed 6 people. The teams packed a total of 77,000 meals for distribution. The meals were originally destined for Nicaragua. However this year, on short notice, 21,000 of the meals were trucked to Minneapolis and put on a Delta flight to Puerto Rico to help with hurricane relief efforts there. Also as part of the event, non-perishable food items were collected. During I-FEED 2017, 26,300 food items were collected and donated to the Hunger Task Force. The Hunger Task Force is a supply resource for the area's food pantries.